Safe Routes to School tries to implement bike lanes for student safety

By FIONA MORIARTY-MCLAUGHLINIn order to help Samo students commute to school safely and efficiently, the Safe Routes to School project is focused on safer transportation improvements in Santa Monica.According to Senior Transportation Planner of Santa Monica Michelle Glickert, the construction of bike lanes is estimated to start in April 2014. Cars will drive west on Michigan and south on 7th, making Michigan a one-way street, which will result in more room for bike lanes. According to Glickert, parking spaces will not be eliminated, but altered."I bike to school and wider lanes will help," Trevor Neval ('17) said. "They'll also help my safety while riding since I'll have more room and the cars will be able to properly open their doors for a change."According to the Safe Routes to School project website, the median on Pico at 7th will be removed to allow traffic to turn left and right with indicated arrows. A traffic light will be installed, which will make it safer for students to cross the street and permit cars to proceed east and west onto Pico.Samo Solar Alliance member Caitlin Smith ('15) is concerned about the project and how residents will react."The city of Santa Monica is trying to make less traffic on Michigan because there are residents who live on the street," Smith said. "The residents are more concerned about themselves and their own well-being rather than the safety of the bikers."According to Glickert, the goal of this program is to make a healthier environment and eliminate as many cars as possible. Students will be able to securely travel to school on a bike, rather than a car.Samo parent Karen Melick believes that the bike lanes will worsen traffic conditions and the Safe Routes to School project needs more research before being implemented."I am all for improving the safety of our kids getting to and from school, but just adding bike lanes without doing adequate and transparent traffic analysis is not the right way to move forward," Melick said. "I can't see how this can be, those streets are closed to gridlocked during drop off and pick up times so how can there be no significant impact by reducing the throughput by 50 percent?"